Taunting Destiny

by Amelia Hutchins

  “Why them?” It was the only thing I needed to know before I took him out.

  “Because you—” His eyes looked over my shoulder, then he immediately sifted out mid-sentence.

  I turned my head and locked eyes with Ryder and his men, who had sifted in behind me. I didn’t drop my magic. I didn’t know who to trust anymore. I stepped back and turned toward Ryder with my hands glowing from my magic, as I’d seen Ryder’s do before; bright, beautiful, and deadly magic. My magic.

  “Syn, drop the magic,” Zahruk said as he stepped in front of Ryder slowly, protecting him from me as if he needed to be.

  “I didn’t invite you in,” I snapped, angry that I’d been seconds away from discovering the one answer I’d needed since that grisly day so long ago; only to have it ripped away when they’d sifted in.

  “I didn’t ask,” Ryder said, pushing Zahruk out of the way.

  “You have no right to be here. Not after what you did,” I seethed, but dropped the magic since it was taking too much strength to keep it up. I wasn’t suicidal. Ryder was king of badass, and I was a daisy next to him.

  “I do if you are in trouble, Synthia. You are still mine to protect.”

  “I think you’ve done enough protecting me, Ryder. I seem to get hurt more around you than I do on my own. If I’m not mistaken, your second in command stabbed me. You stalked me, and killed my boyfriend, and then bit me…stop me if I’m off here.”

  He just stood there, staring at me with no emotion on his beautiful face. I wanted to scream. I wanted to hit him, but in the end I just wanted to hold him. And I think that part pissed me off the most. His eyes held caution, as if it was taking everything he had to stand still.

  “You need new wards on the walls. Yours didn’t keep him out. He was the one who—the one who attacked your mother,” Ryder said quietly as his eyes turned gentle.

  “Raped my mother; he turned her FIZ, which should be easy for you to say.” I watched his expression shift. He smiled coldly, and I felt my pulse quicken. I was such a fucking masochist.

  “So he did. You tapped a leyline?” he asked, distant and cold. I wanted to scream at him. Why wasn’t he trying to pull me to him and check for wounds? Anything would be better than this cold asshole that was suddenly treating me like a fucking stranger.

  “There isn’t a leyline here. If there was, I’d still have my parents,” I replied, stopping the pain in its tracks as I forced it down.

  “He just showed up?” Ryder asked, not bothering to turn around as Ristan sifted in, late to the party.

  “No, Ryder, I opened the fucking door and asked him if he took sugar with his tea! What do you think happened?”

  He growled, and I almost smiled—almost. There was the emotion. Maybe it was bad, but it was better than nothing.

  “Next time, I suggest you kill him,” he replied.

  I lifted a brow at his words. “Um, hello! I was trying until an army of men sifted in and scared him away! I had him right where I wanted him until you got here.”

  “Maybe strike before asking if he’d like fucking sugar in his tea next time,” Ryder snarled.

  “I thought it was Alden coming back in; he’d just left. I never imagined that the Fae who…” I swallowed. “That he would sift right in and start breaking shit!”

  “Well, he did, and he could have easily killed you. He’s not some just newly Transition Fae like you! He could have killed you! I told you that you needed to fucking stay with me until you learned your powers,” Ryder snapped.

  “Or, I could have killed him! We won’t know because you keep thinking you have some right to protect me, when you don’t.”

  “You could have fucking died!” Ryder fumed as his jaw ticked wildly and his nostrils flared.

  “But I didn’t. I was holding my own against him just fine until you showed up and scared him away! I get it. I’m nothing more than a child in your eyes, Ryder—and I wouldn’t survive a week in your world! But, right now, I don’t trust you—actually, at this point, I don’t trust anyone except Adam, and he’s not here right now!”

  He nodded, but said nothing before he stepped back to talk to Zahruk. “Station Savlian and Sinjinn at the doors. Ristan, try to get a reading on the Fae who was here. Dristan, put his ass through every record we have and see if you can match his features, cloak, and brands. Call me if you find anything that goes bump in the night around here. And do not let Synthia leave this house alone at all. That’s an order.”

  “Excuse me? You don’t control—” He sifted to me and pressed me between his hard body and the wall.

  “I will not let anything happen to you. I’m not a fucking saint, Synthia. I’m not a fucking human either, so stop confusing me with what you think I’m allowed to do. I told you from the beginning of this that I wasn’t human. I don’t play by human rules.” His eyes lowered to my mouth, and came back up to lock with mine.

  “Let go,” I whispered.

  “Make me,” he challenged heatedly.

  “Ryder,” I warned.

  “How’s the hunger?” he asked, removing his hold on me and backing up to allow me space enough to breathe.

  I met his eyes, and flashed him just how hungry I was, before turning and leaving the front room. I sifted the moment my feet hit the stairs, without realizing I’d done so. I’d only wanted to get away from his men and their probing gazes. I needed a moment alone to collapse and, the moment I hit the bed, I did. I inhaled slowly and exhaled even slower. I did it for several moments, before I noticed that I wasn’t alone.

  “Are you okay, Synthia?” Ryder asked as he leaned against the door.

  “I’m fine,” I whispered as I moved onto my side to look at him. The man was a sex god from any position.

  “I may not be human, nor have I spent an extensive amount of time in this world, but even I know ‘I’m fine’ coming from a woman is normally code for she’s about to cry. You just faced the man who killed your parents. I’m here if you need me, or to feed. Use me, please,” he said softly.

  “I have to be fine,” I said as if I’d said it for so long that now it was my motto.

  “For who? Who says you have to be strong anymore? You are allowed to fall apart, because I will hold you through it. You can crumble, and I’ll hold the pieces together until you can pull yourself out of it.”

  “You had Adrian turned into a Vampire because you wanted inside me, Ryder, and I’m not sure I can forgive you for doing it,” I said as I looked up to meet his eyes, and watch as he shut down once more. “You don’t get to put me back together when you shattered my world just to sleep with me. You took too much, and you won’t offer me anything in return, besides sex. You keep telling me that you want me, and, yet, you turn around, and tell me you are not in this for the long run. I can’t keep doing this to myself. I need someone who wants me.”

  “I take what I want, and I wanted you. I made a stupid fucking choice according to the rules of this world, Syn, but I’d never wanted anything more in my entire life than I wanted to have you. I shouldn’t have stolen him from you, or fucked with you at all. I can’t give you what you want. I can’t be the man you need, Pet. I can only be this. I’m Fae, and, while it might not make sense to you, you have everything I can give freely of myself. I’m leaving Zahruk inside the house tonight. It’s not up for discussion.” He smiled roguishly and sifted over to the bed. He kissed my forehead, so gently that it shocked my heart. I’m pretty sure it stopped beating for a moment while his lips pressed against my skin.

  “Ryder,” I whispered brokenly, but he’d already sifted out.

  Chapter Nineteen

  I lay curled in the covers, even though I wasn’t cold. I felt chilled to the bone with the information running through my head. If the Guild was picking a fight, then they were going to be up a shit creek with a lot of unneeded collateral damage as their paddles. It could send the entire world into a war that the humans would lose.

  I should have told Ryder what Alden had said,
but my brain was already running on overload, and today’s events had only made it worse. My surprise visitor was making it hard to think of much else. With him came the memories of that night. The presence of Ryder’s men did give me a level of comfort that I wouldn’t have had if he’d listened to me and taken them with him.

  I’d have to thank him next time I saw him, which kind of sucked. My brain was bouncing from his gentle kiss to my forehead, my parents’ deaths, that horrible night. I now knew that they had died protecting me from whoever the blond Fae were. It hurt to know I had been right; that they had died for me.

  I turned over in bed and shook my head at the sudden bout of dizziness that made the room spin. I felt a bolt of fire race through my body. Before I could even think, I was off the bed and running to the bathroom where I emptied my stomach violently. Strong hands helped me as I sat back away from the toilet. Calm, soothing fingers pulled my hair away from my face and a cold cloth was placed against my forehead softly.

  “Syn, what the hell did you try to eat?” Ryder asked as he sat with me, cradled against his chest, on the cold bathroom floor.

  “Food,” I whispered, fighting another wave of nausea. How the hell had he gotten here so fast?

  “Your body should be able to digest food without any problems. Food didn’t cause this. Are you done?” he asked softly.

  “I need to brush my teeth,” I replied, trying to stand up, but he was faster. He pulled me up against himself, and I felt his magic cleansing me from head to toe as he walked me back to the bed slowly.

  “How long have you been sick?” he asked, helping me back into bed.

  “I’m not sick. I just threw up.”

  “Try to sleep. I sent the others home to sleep as well. I’ll make sure you are safe.”

  “You sent everyone else home?” I asked, wondering how long ago they’d left.

  “Yes. You need to feed soon, and the scent of your Transition can still affect the men. You need to rest tonight. Tomorrow, I will show you how to feed without sex, if you are strong enough. Most newly Transitioned Fae can’t feed without the sex. So don’t get your hopes up.” A small smile tugged at the corner of his mouth. He was actually teasing me, which was unlike him. I was so used to his demands and his orders that it caught me off guard.

  I crooked my arm under my head and watched him as he sat down in the overstuffed chair next to my bed removing his shirt. My eyes slid down his torso to the small dark patch of hair that led deeper into his loose fitting jeans. “Alden came by today. He said he thinks the Guild is siding with the Mages who are attacking the Fae. He also said that the Guild is spreading propaganda that the Mages are the true ancestors of the Druids.” I kept my eyes leveled with his, and waited for the explosion that would surely follow my words.

  His face gave nothing away as he replied, “I know. I’ve always known the Guild had a part to play in the Mages game. I have been watching them for a long time, sizing up the enemy, and seeing what cards they held. I always stack the deck in my favor.”

  I shook my head. “How do you always manage to be one step ahead of everyone else, Ryder?”

  “I do it by studying my enemies, and being the better player at the game. I approached the Guild fully aware of the Guild’s origins and history that they don’t teach their young. Keep in mind, all propaganda, as you call it, starts with a grain of truth. So, what Alden told you is right, but not quite. The history goes back farther than you have been taught—farther than humans realize. The Fae came to this world long ago and stayed mostly out of curiosity. Humans are full of emotion, and it is something that we tend to lose over an immortal existence. It draws us. This interaction created a problem as humans at the time were quite primitive, impressionable and extremely superstitious. You mix that with magical beings that are far more advanced intellectually and culturally, and it can become a very big problem. Many of the so called ‘gods’ of early human history, were in fact, Fae that had challenged the ruling castes in Faery and broken the sacrosanct rule of not interfering with humans, by setting themselves up as gods.” He smiled at me as his words lulled me with the history of our kind.

  “The Fae spread out and unintentionally influenced cultures wherever they went. The Dark Fae tended to frequent what is now known as Scotland, whereas the Light Fae favored England, and the Blood Fae drifted towards Ireland and Wales. The ruling Castes in Faery did not mind the Fae that liked to visit and amuse themselves in this world, as long as the rules were maintained. Not interfering with humans, as I mentioned before, was one rule, and the second was not allowing creatures of the Horde into this world.” Ryder looked at me intently as he measured his words.”

  “Syn, there are some creatures from the Horde that do not belong in this world. They are far too dangerous, and they have no control over themselves. As you may have guessed, both rules were broken many times over, and there were many tragic situations that occurred by bringing some of the more dangerous and unstable Horde creatures into this world. Many Changelings were born as a result of the Fae taking humans as their lovers. The challenge, as you speculated with me before, was that the Changelings really had no place to belong. They were powerful in their own right, but they were not human, and they did not like the fear that the humans had for them.”

  They entered into Faery, and banded together for protection, and to learn from each other and the Fae. At first, they tried to belong with the Light Fae. The Light Fae, knowing that the Changelings were part human, rejected them quickly and quite violently. They then tried the Dark Fae, but Mauricio, who was King back then, rejected anyone who was not of his lineage.” His eyes started to glow faintly. Before he spoke again, he had sifted beside me in the bed, and he pulled my body closer to his hard, warm skin.

  “The Blood Fae would not have accepted them either, but the Changelings never asked them because by then they had decided to strike out alone. They hated that the Blood Fae and the Horde were Unseelie. They rejected the two castes and returned to the human world.”

  “So, this was when they became the Druids?” I asked, trying to think past his naked skin that rested against mine. When I had gotten ready for bed, I’d only changed into a small pair of shorts and a thin tank top that said Sassy across my breasts and rear end.

  I felt him smile against my neck. “Yes, Pet. The Changelings became the Druids of England and Ireland that the Guild would have taught you about, but as time moved on; they slinked back to the shadows, just as the Fae tend to do. We kept watch over them, because they were only children who were hurt, and had felt as if they did not belong. As the human world evolved, they evolved with it. When they took the titles of Witches and Warlocks and created the Guild, we took note. They seemed harmless enough, and the elders of the Fae thought it cute when the Druids took up arms and vowed to protect the human race from us. A more radical group formed within their ranks and became the Mages, and they were a different matter altogether. They could not let the rejection of the Light and Dark Fae go and move on with their lives. They have been operating within and outside of the Guild ever since. Their agenda, as best as we can tell, is revenge at any cost. Some Guild members, like Alden, don’t know all the facts, while others are extremists, working in the shadows and moving the Guild in the direction they want it to go in without those who would reject this fanaticism being the wiser.”

  “So we are Fae?” I asked, turning over to face him.

  “Not you, Pet. You are full Fae. They are Changelings; half human and half Fae, born of a union between Fae and the human race. The Horde would have welcomed them, had they asked them to. They chose to leave though. Only a small portion of those inside the Guild know of what is happening deeper within the ranks.”

  “How can you be so certain that it is only a small portion, and not more of them?” I asked, narrowing my eyes on him. It resulted in them lowering to his full, gorgeous, skillful mouth. “I mean, how do you know that I’m not involved?”

  “Because I had you in my b
edroom inside the club for thirty minutes before I allowed Adam in to collect you. I could have taken you then. You were so fucking beautiful sprawled out on my bed. I tranced you, and asked you if you were involved with anything off the books with the Guild, or any group inside that was off the grid. The only thing you admitted to was cheating on your diet to eat chocolate. You had no secrets; none that were real anyways. You were the first human who seemed to be real, go figure, you weren’t even human,” he replied smiling.

  “You tranced me the day I signed the first contract?” I asked, not sure how I felt about him messing with my head without me knowing it.

  “I had to know. Z’s gift only allows us to see events as they happened, not as they are perceived by the human mind. Our group is very effective at getting information, and not all need the type of interrogation tactics like you saw at the mansion. I also needed to know how far you’d go to protect the Guild if they were the ones killing those poor mutilated women.”

  “I wouldn’t protect them if they had done it.”

  “I know. You’re a fierce protector, but only when what you are doing is right,” Ryder said, smiling wickedly.

  “You shouldn’t have killed Adrian. How am I supposed to trust you now?” I asked softly, already having to fight the need to kiss him.

  “You shouldn’t trust anyone, including me. If I thought sacrificing you would accomplish my goals, I’d do it in a heartbeat. I’m not here to make friends, or to build a life. I’m here for one thing alone, and stopping Fae from dying needless deaths is a part of why I am here. We are not so different in that. We both fight for the weak and vulnerable who can’t do it themselves,” he whispered softly, but with enough force I knew he wasn’t bluffing.

  “They sent me to kill you. Alden admitted that he thought they were hoping I’d have some sort of PTSD attack and kill you. I wonder if Arianna was a back-up plan. You knew what they were up to, so why didn’t you just kill me?”